1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network monitoring system and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for monitoring activities on a network, and also to a computer-readable medium which stores a computer program that provides such network monitoring functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
For better operations and management of a network, the network administrator has to understand the current performance of the network, and if any problem is found, he/she should take necessary measures, such as changing some setup parameters, according to the perceived network status. Generally, the task of monitoring a network is carried out on a predefined set of monitoring rules and conditions, or “monitoring policy.” While actual network conditions may vary with time, conventional network monitoring systems are designed to use a fixed monitoring policy. When some of the current monitoring rules do not fit the actual network conditions, it is the network administrator's task to intervene in the monitoring operations and modify the policy definitions.
Conventionally, the network administrator sets an appropriate threshold for a particular item of interest, so that an alert message will be generated to notify him/her of the occurrence of a condition change in that item. In response to the alert, the administrator modifies the setup of the network in an attempt to maintain its expected performance level. One problem with this conventional method is that there is a time lag between the occurrence of a network event and the action taken by the network administrator. Another problem is that the quality level of network management depends too much on the skill level of the administrator, since a large part of threshold selection and network reconfiguration is carried out on the basis of his/her personal view and knowledge.